CLERMONT, Fla. – The top two seeds in The Sun Conference Tournament battled for seven innings on Sunday, but the top-seeded and 25th-ranked Eagles were bested by second-seeded USCB, 1-0, eliminating the Blue and Gold from the tournament.
 
ERAU drops to 23-18 overall, while USCB improves to 37-10. The Eagles will await the NAIA Opening Round selections with the possibility of receiving an at-large berth.
 
The Eagles threatened in the first inning, but left runners at second and third after Samantha Smith flied out to end the inning.
 
USCB had a golden opportunity in the first inning as well after Sammi Shaffren led off with a triple but was stranded there after Alexis Estrada got the next two batters via strikeouts and induced a fly out from Taylor Triplett to end the inning without the run scoring.
 
The Sand Sharks thought they had gotten on the board in the fifth when Marissa Becker lifted a base hit to left field to score Shaffren, but the home plate umpire called Becker out for being out of the box, negating the run.
 
The score remained tied at 0-0 until the bottom of the seventh, when the Sand Sharks got the first two runners aboard with nobody out. After Maddie Byrd popped out, Missy Hughes singled up the middle, scoring Whitley Martin for the game's only run.
 
Smith collected two of ERAU's three hits, finishing 2-for-3, while Dee Espinosa was 1-for-3.
 
Alexis Estrada (13-8) took the complete game loss, tossing 6.1 innings, allowing one run on eight hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
 
Shaffren was 2-for-3 with a double for USCB while Hughes was 3-for-3 with the game's only RBI.
 
Kristy Cook (14-7) threw a shutout for the win, giving up just three hits and a walk with four strikeouts.